In The Heather
by mydoctortennant
Summary: When times are hard, sometimes all you have to do is escape...


Training consumed him. His every fibre. After the battle against Cenred and the men they had lost it fell to him, the Prince of Camelot, to ensure that the army was rebuilt and a part of that was seeing to their training regime. If he wasn't seeing to new recruits he was making sure that the other, more experienced knights of Camelot weren't forfeiting their training. They couldn't afford to, just in case Cenred launched another attack.

"Arthur, you should take the night off," Leon suggested as they ran drills with the less experienced men, he took another strike towards Arthur's left shoulder and the Prince glanced it off easily enough, but his footwork stumbled, "You'll be no good to anybody if you're exhausted."

"I'm fine."

"If war was declared tomorrow you'd be no good to us," Leon said, proving his point as his next hit left Arthur tumbling back out of exhaustion, unable to spar back, "Go. Have a relaxing evening. We can cope without you for one night."

Arthur leant against his sword; his breathes heaving in his chest, "If you're sure?"

"Perfectly."

"No slacking," Arthur caught Leon's sword as he passed with a tired smile on his face.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Arthur."

X

A little before sunset Arthur bound himself in his blue cloak and took off from his chambers. He avoided the obvious routes and the guards, taking the back way out of the castle so not to pass the training ground and walked down into the town towards Gwen's small home.

He heard rumours about the castle, when he cared to listen, that Gwen had a male fancy. Nobody knew who he was, just that every once in a while he'd appear in her home bearing flowers or a note should she not be there.

The townsfolk started to greet him; they'd nod and smile. Never would they speak but their pleasantries told him that they approved of the match whoever this man was. All they knew was this stranger put a smile on Gwen's face that took days to fade.

He knocked on her door three times quickly followed by two slow raps and entered, as was his tradition.

Gwen was sat at her table with her green dress' bodice in her lap, fixing some of the stitches that had become loose as she wore the garment. She looked up, unsurprised by the presence but confused by it, "I thought you were training tonight," she stated looking up from her sewing, "I would have prepared you something otherwise."

"I'm not hungry."

"You can't starve yourself; you need to keep your energy up."

"First Leon, now you," he chuckled, "You don't need to worry about me, Guinevere."

"I'm not. Should you collapse from exhaustion and lack of sustenance, then I shall-"

"Then you shall tell me you told me so?"

"Precisely."

"Why would I rid you of the joy?" he posed with a quirked eyebrow as he stood casually in the middle of her home, "Leon gave me the evening off. Well he forced me to leave, so I could hardly stay. Soooo, we are going to escape for the evening."

"We are? And where shall we be going?"

"That's a secret."

"You know I dislike surprises."

"I do, but trust me. You'll like this one," she set her smile into a line, but decided to follow him out of her door. He didn't even bother to check the streets, but she knew they all spoke about this hooded stranger anyway. She knew some of them believed him to be Merlin but she couldn't hep but laugh at the rumour. Others thought him a Knight of Camelot and in some way they were right. She wasn't going to confirm anything they said.

X

She hadn't thought when they'd set out that half an hour later they would still be walking up the hills outside of the city walls. Out of sight of the city he had taken her hand, leaning her through the forest off the beaten track toward the trees and the foliages, holding branches out of her way so she could pass through the woods without catching herself on any thorns.

She followed him up the hill. She was placing a great deal of trust in him, but then she did every day. So did the rest of Camelot.

"Arthur, where are we going?"

"You'll see," he gently tugged on her hand and pushed back one final branch before they came to a clearing. The heather brush spanned it, leaving it the most beautiful carpet of purple, the same colour as the cloak she had draped over her back.

"I've never been here before."

"No? I used to come up here to escape," he pointed over to a tree that sat in the middle of the clearing, its leaves were a mixture of green and reds, ready to fall in the autumn air.

"I never get much chance to do that. Between serving Morgana and my seamstress duties I don't much time," she said truthfully as they both reached the tree. Arthur pulled his cloak from his shoulders and laid it on the floor.

"It gives the perfect view of the sunset," he sat down on the blue material. He offered out his arm to her, inviting her to sit next to him as he leant against the trunk of the tree. Gwen unclipped her cloak from around her neck and folded it, placing it down on the grass. She knelt next to Arthur, absently facing him, looking over his features. He must have been nicked in training because he had a fresh slit by his left ear.

"You should be more careful," she said softly as she checked it, "That will need cleaning."

He pulled his chin out of her grasp and took her hand away from his face, "It's fine. Merlin checked it over earlier. You don't need to worry about me."

"I always worry about you," she settled her hands in her lap, awkwardness falling over them.

X

Sometimes Merlin wished Arthur would let him know where he wandered off to. His father was looking for him, something about a council meeting that he wanted his son to attend, and Merlin couldn't find him anywhere.

He'd checked all his usual haunts, the training ground, his chambers, he'd even checked Gwen's house but she wasn't there either. He'd risked checking Morgana's room in case Gwen was there but it was deserted (he couldn't help but be thankful, he didn't want to deal with her snide remarks today.)

He didn't know where else to look. Uther was already on his case and if he wasn't careful he'd end up in the stocks like he always did.

"Arthur, where are you?" he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. That did it; he'd just have to dig around in his books until he found something that would help him.

X

It hadn't taken long for Arthur to make Gwen more comfortable in their surroundings. Nobody was going to find them there; she didn't need to fret over people stumbling on them. In all the years he had come and sat in the heather, he'd never met a soul, only his own.

"It's beautiful," Gwen sighed as she relaxed her head on his shoulder.

"I used to come up here and," he faltered, "It's stupid, but I used to come up here and talk to my mother. I can't go to her grave, it doesn't seem right. I didn't know her, so coming here, it's silly-"

"No, it's not."

"I like to think that she'd be on our side."

"From what I've heard of her from my father and from the other staff she was wonderful lady. I'm sure she'd want you to be happy. I've no doubt."

"Perhaps, were she still alive, she'd be able to talk my father round."

"Maybe, maybe not."

"She'd have liked you. I have these stupid dreams where she talks to me. It might just be my mind, but she always approves of you," he gently ran his hand over her bicep, the fabric of her dress rough beneath his fingers, "I'm sure if my father got to know you he'd feel the same."

"I'm just a servant to him. I always will be."

"Then he is a fool," they fell into silence again, looking down over the city, watching the sun set behind the castle, casting shadows over the lower town. With a deep breath he leant his cheek atop her curls, watching his city slowly close its doors, shutting it's windows against the oncoming chill.

X

Merlin sat cross legged in the middle of his bedroom floor. Gaius had already told him it was a bad idea and should Arthur find out about his magic on his head be it. He lit the candle in front of him and propped the book against his knees so he could read it; "Ic I ásce Arthur Pendragon wæft mé séo faru," the candle light before him flickered and freed itself from the candle wick.

Merlin grinned to himself. And stood as the light started towards the door; he was lucky it didn't head straight out of the window. Now he just had to follow it.

The sun had set in the sky, making it easy for him to follow the light, but he had to make sure nobody spotted him following it.

Somehow he managed to make it out of the castle without the guards thinking anything of it. The flash of light went unnoticed and they must have assumed he was going to see his friend again.

The main town was quiet with the occasion rift of laughter from the public houses he passed, he hadn't realised he would be following his little light out of the city and into the woods; "I hate these woods," he mumbled to himself but kept following all the same.

He followed it through the trees, ducking branches and avoiding the thorns the best he could in the moonlight. He pushed through one bramble only to have it spring back into his face. He shouted out in pain, hands covering his face. Luckily for him it was the last before the light took him to a clearing.

He saw him then. At least, he assumed it was Arthur, he wasn't alone but from the outline he could see he knew exactly who he was with. He smiled to himself, he should have known.

He slowly approached them, half expecting Arthur to tell him to go away or something equally as obvious but no such reprimand came. Once he could focus on their faces he noticed why he had gone _un_noticed. With his head resting on hers, his eyes were closed, his breathing deep and steady. For the first time in days he was sleeping soundly. He spotted Gwen's cloak abandoned next to them, he couldn't' just leave them to the elements but he didn't want to risk his own death waking them.

He took the purple fabric and unfolded it launching it so it flowed over them, covering their legs and lower torsos. Merlin smiled to himself, she was curled into his chest, his arm around her shoulder holding her close.

For now he would leave them and when the sun started to rise he would have to wake them, they had lives to attend to and duties to do. But now they could sleep, nobody would miss them, not yet. Not for another few hours.


End file.
